It has been my privilege to occupy the allotted 500 to 600-word space in the best student publication on campus for the past three semesters. But before I ride off into the Israeli sunset, there remains a few issues that I feel compelled to bring to your attention.

The first of which pertains to the roadblocks our government is placing on the path of permanent residency in the United States for the world’s best and brightest individuals. The government’s policies on this matter are extremely detrimental to our country’s future. One of the most challenging courses I’ve taken in my time here is Econometric Forecasting with Michael Vardanyan. During class last week, he mentioned to us that he couldn’t renew his visa and was being forced to leave his job here at Binghamton University and perhaps more unfairly, the United States. I sincerely doubt that a man as accomplished as professor Vardanyan in a scarcely popular field such as econometric forecasting would have been a drain on our society as many would believe if we let him stay. We need the world’s most talented people, like professor Vardanyan, to bring their ideas to the United States and implement them here so that Americans can reap the benefits of their ingenuity. Our leadership in higher education is wasteful if we can’t bring in the cream of the world’s talent crop to foster and develop new ideas and technologies to solve the litany of problems facing it.

A second issue hits closer to home. I have friends in more than just one fraternity who have been unfairly singled out by the office of Campus Life and forced underground, as if they’ve done something illegal by choosing to associate themselves with their friends. An assistant director of Campus Life has threatened not only to expel members of these fraternities from school for their associations, but he has also threatened judicial action against anyone accused of association with these groups.

And here I thought that we had left the Salem witch hunts behind in the 17th century. The reasoning behind the suspension of these groups from campus is completely unfair and reflects a double standard of behavior. I have personally sat at a table in the Susquehanna Room with the same assistant director mentioned above and watched him cozy up to a group of sorority girls who he has deemed untouchable while only weeks later taking action against a fraternity for activities he knows to be taking place universally. The affected groups are entitled to an apology and a fair chance at reinstatement.

The final issue I wish to raise is Binghamton University’s increasing focus on the School of Management at the expense of various liberal arts departments in Harpur. While the University basks in the sunny glow of a top 40 ranking of SOM amongst undergraduate business schools, the quality of a liberal arts education at BU is in danger.

I know countless SOM students who swear that attendance in classes is essentially optional and that earning top grades is as simple as reading the textbook and memorizing formulas and PowerPoint slides. Rumors of professors recycling exams and widespread cheating have circulated for years. Meanwhile, BU is struggling to find room in the budget to replace departing professors from Harpur.

When Elliot Spitzer and his benevolence toward BU were ejected from the governor’s mansion in Albany, it was as if he had treated us like Ashley Dupree, only without the obligatory post-coitus cuddle. It’s important that after the departure of the senior class of 2008, including your conscientious observer, BU reverses this trend of favoring the School of Management at the expense of a liberal arts education on which the school was originally founded.

Next Sunday’s graduation marks the day my fellow seniors and I will finally surrender in the epic battle to stave off adulthood. For the rest of you lucky underclassmen, drink the college Kool-Aid while it’s cold. Spike it with Devil Springs vodka if you need to. Just be sure to enjoy the time you have left.